Thanks for all the input, fellas. +1 Cammamdo on mentioning that Mitee-Bite wax, I now remember seeing it at a tooling show and thinking, "I've got to remember that stuff"....maybe I'll give that a try. Another great 3M product is Super 99 and Super 77. Both are spray adhesives that will hold like a son-of-a-bi%#ch. Bit of a mess to clean-up and occasionally wreck parts getting them un-stuck.

Howdy Folks, Next week I've got some thin .040 - .095 titanium sheet I'm going to be profiling. I've used either double stick tape or 3M spray adhesive in the past for other "hard to hold" parts...usually plastics though. I've heard that there is some double-stick tape that people swear by, anybody got any recommendations? Also, I'm a bit skeptical with using coolant with the tape.

How about if the topic line of a thread starts with "Post", it automatically is fowarded to a galaxy far, far away... Realistically, maybe it's fowarded directly to a reseller or moderator, totally keep it from polluting and cluttering the forum. Give the moderator a chance to inquire about the validity of the software, and the reseller a chance to convert them from the "dark side", and maybe make a sale.. Crazy Millman is right, two fresh requests in one day, that's more than general MC help!

Oh boy, This O/T I could not agree more with. Driver training in general is horrible. I'm not sure which generation is worse though...elderly or teenagers! quote: In my opinion fast lane is for passing only. I hear ya, robk, cammando! I don't get road rage, but left-lane roadblockers, non signaling turners, and tailgaters make me fu@#$%ing crazy! Make driver testing "real", and I bet the roads would be much safer and efficent.

Phil, I frequently try convert to arcs, and myself only have it work on occasions. Scaling drawings I've had what were once arcs (full circles even), turn into splines. Convert to arcs seems to resurect them as arcs again in that situation.

Thx Bullines, I think I'll get Mozilla running this weekend... As for Opera, the mouse gesture navigation is spectacular, and the overall speed of page loading is at least 3x that of IE. It's great for surfing, but that's about it. You probably all have notice my occasionally mis-formatted postings, that's Opera!

Not to hijack this thread..I use Opera for most of my web browsing, what's Mozilla like? Brief pro's and cons? Opera is still filled with "issues", and I resort to Explorer often....seems to usually be Javascript problems?

Thanks Phil, That's what I was looking for. Using the same process day in and day out here, it's easy to forget the basics.

How come there isn't an easy way to create an ellipse as a series of arcs, instead of splines? Actually, let me re-phrase that... Is there an easy way to create an ellipse as a series of arcs? I manually do it creating points along entity, then a bunch of 3 point arcs. Anyone else?

Hey Chris, I grabbed the file and played for a while.... So you want to translate, rotate, change offsets, and sort by operations? It seems the operation sorting is the hang-up. How about doing the translation on each toolpath individually, and then rotating THAT translation...sorta like a transforming a transformation. When doing the translations, assign new offset (g55 here), increment 0. Then sort the whole bloody mess by operation type. Maybe? I've got to get back to work here, and just sent my head spinning. Good luck.

Before you get used to the Mastercam hotkeys, you can re-assign them to your liking. Screen>Configure>toolbars/keys

2004? What is it? There's nothing on the solidworks web site about 2004. I'm taking a SW class right now, and thought we were using 03.

quote: What is your complaint about the carousel tool changer The side mount gets you more Z clearance. -With a side mount, the machine goes all the "way up" (machine Z0) for a tool change. However, a carousel hangs down in the z envelope, thus tool changes take place at something like machine Z 2.000. Probably not so much an issue with the larger machines, but it sure sucks with a mini mill!

I don't know much about the Hardinge machines, but between a VF2 & VF3, VF3 all the way.The VF0,OE,&2 share the same castings. The VF3,4,&5 share their own castings...Therefore, the VF3 is the "smallest" machine built on the biggest iron. If you look at the main casting on any Haas machine, (I think the numbers are on the verticle next to the power panel) you can see what models share that iron.

New survey- How many of you have said the following: "buy that, why I can just MAKE one!" only to later say: "dam, I could have bought 10 of those for what it cost me to make one!" Needless to say, I've got some really trick, really expensive parts for my motorcycles!

Lars, Recently moved to Rochester? I lived there for quite a few years while attending RIT. Nice town! As far as getting up to speed on the mill, I've got two recommendations: 1) Get in touch with a good tooling supplier there. Make them come to your shop, look at what your doing, and make recommendations. Some of these guys are sleazy salesmen, others really know there stuff. Find a good one, and he can be a great help and save your a$$. 2) Take a class or two. I hav'nt been in Roc. for a while, and I'm not sure what educational programs are still running (Monroe Community,R.I.T.) Go out to the RIT campus and check out the shops there. I heard they cut the shop programs way back, but the fellas out there are great guys.

+1 Andrew, Most simple feed & speed calc's don't take radial chip thinning into account, and assume over 50% cutter engagement. It is easier to calculate in your head, that's for sure. But doing a finish contour or the like, you need some serious feed rate overrides++++! Some of the better feed and speed calculators figure the REAL chip load out. That would be a great feature for version X !!!

Sorry, I meant "petabyte"

That's a slick little tool!! Thx Tony. Learned something new already...... Check out the "computer tab". And I thought that a terabyte was big! But a zettabyte is 9x as large!

Ok Ok Ok, You fellas are cuttin' the real stuff (D2,A2,SS,etc.), I'm just playin' with kid's toys now... -Haas -6061 -Mitsubishi 2.5" 5 flute/insert (ASX445). -2500 RPM (1600 s.f.m.) -Stepover @60% -Chipload .005-.008 -D.O.C. .150 P.S. A previous shop I turned Waspalloy and Ni-620 forgings all day (and night). THAT was a real man's material!

Wow, what a sweet idea for CNC! I've done the same with a manual mill. Did you have the machine cutoff the parts as well? If so, how did you deal with the shortening of the material as parts were cut off? Or did you just load stock one-at-a-time?

Sounds like a great opportunity, but I can also sympathize with your uncertainty. The unknown is always a bit frightening, no matter how good it sounds. However from what you've said about your current job, it seems like it's run the course, and you're ready for new challanges....that said, GO FOR IT! Besides, 40 years from now would you like to look back at what opportunites you passed by, or at the exciting things you have indeed done.

Sorry, I meant L-U-F-K-I-N! hahaha I'm using my sweet-a$$ bore gauge set right now, and realize that I had indeed mis-sPeLLed . P.S. MADE IN THE U.S.A.!

Luftkin, huh! I've got a few old Luftkin pieces, mics, indicator, bore gauges, etc...they are absolutely fantastic. I know what you mean about saving them, almost too nice to use on a daily basis!

Looks good. That 3d contour toolpath sure comes in handy for doing letters on surfaces.